The invention is directed to a hearing aid, particularly a miniature hearing aid to be worn at the head, comprising a housing, sound transducers, an amplifier unit, control elements, a power source, or the like. The invention is also directed to a method for the manufacture of the hearing aid.
For designing the amplifier unit, it is known in hearing aids to arrange electronic electrical components such as, for example, capacitors, resistors, etc at a printed circuit board. The electrical components have electrical terminals for contacting interconnects of the printed circuit board. The contact locations are provided as solder points. What is thereby disadvantageous is that the components to be contacted (component and carrier element) must be solderable. Problems also arise due to the influence of heat. In case of repair, the solder points must be dissolved and must then be renewed. Complicated assembly results, and the implementation of the soldering processes uses space that leads to an enlargement of the printed circuit board (German Utility Model 84 26 609 incorporated herein).
Behind-the-ear hearing aids are also commercially available whose amplifier assemblies are designed as electronic components which comprise envelopes of epoxy resin in module form, carry a contact strip at one side, and have this side contacted to a motherboard via plug-type connections and solder points. The electronic amplifier components thereby form cast-out modules that are accommodated in the hearing aid housing in packet form. As a result of their envelope, these modules are in fact protected against moisture and external influences, but they cannot be repaired, and waste a great deal of space.
It is known in surface mounting with surface-mountable components (SMD technique) to mechanically fix the electrical components in the desired position on the printed circuit board with a gluing process. In a further manufacturing step, these components are then soldered to the printed circuit board or are electrically connected with conductive glue. In the soldering, this manufacturing method has the disadvantages already set forth at the outset and, on the other hand, the gluing process for fixing the component parts requires an additional work step. The contacting with conductive glue requires an exact metering or dosing of the conductive glue, assumes surfaces to be joined that are matched to one another, and requires a curing process.